What did you do to your SMB today?

[JoeH]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

I can't recall if you've upped you trans cooler. It would be a great time if you haven't. In my Excursion (BTS transmission), I went from my 7.3L based trans cooler to a 6.0L trans cooler. Factory Ford, and simple to swap.

Picture from Ford-Trucks.com

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...0-7-3-a-2.html




Herb

Great post but for the uninformed just note that the pic of the 7.3 cooler is from a truck and not a van. Even the stock cooler on vans with the 6.0 is some 7x smaller! Also, note that the 6.0 cooler pictured above will not fit in vans with the 6.0. I'm not sure why it will fit in vans with the 7.3 but apparently it does? That's why 6.0 owners end up going with the Tru-Cool option.

[REF]

Yes, thanks for the tip. Several years ago I installed (or rather had it installed for me) a tru-cool along with a mag-hytec pan.

[Nick]

Finally installed a vent I had custom made two year ago, really like the look

I also have a six inch fan with a thermostat to be installed inside one of the vents to force air out, put parked the project as it seems an overkill. My temps run ~210 with a 5 deg delta.

Grill missing as I’m customizing that too

[Twoxentrix]

Nick - That came out great, I like that look as well. If/when you install a fan please provide an update. Thanks

[wanderers]

I really liked the modification gahamby made to his water tank in his November 16 post, so I ordered a Beckson port, too. I didn't have a six and a half inch hole saw so I used a multi function power tool, a kind of vibrating saw. It worked pretty well. I wasn't sure I could follow a curved line very well but it made a fairly neat hole. I think this will make winterizing much easier, not that we've had much of a winter here.

Roger

[unreng]

changed the fabric covered plywood SMB door panels to DIY 1/4-inch HDPE backed with thermo-tec sound mat.
affixed to the door with #10 rivet nuts with #10-1" stainless button head screws.
added transit grab handles to all four doors so they're easier to close.
we'll be covering the door holes with bungee nets.







also installed dual awnings so we don't have to worry about only having shade on one side of the van...




and borrowed an idea from a westfalia forum - plates with studs to secure the lower portion of the awning mount...https://www.zampsolar.com/omnimount-feet
these will double as a coat / towel rack.

[unreng]

didn't know the best place to post and chose this thread.
wanted to share some photos with the forum so people are aware.
this is on a 2006 E350 EB SMB at the top of the b pillars.
SMB didn't provide any strain or crack relief when cutting the sheet metal.
they also didn't protect the edge of the cut metal.

every system that I've fixed on this van is messed up in some manner...and these mess ups can lead to potential hazards.

[MSD]

Originally Posted by unreng

didn't know the best place to post and chose this thread.
wanted to share some photos with the forum so people are aware.
this is on a 2006 E350 EB SMB at the top of the b pillars.
SMB didn't provide any strain or crack relief when cutting the sheet metal.
they also didn't protect the edge of the cut metal.

every system that I've fixed on this van is messed up in some manner...and these mess ups can lead to potential hazards.

Super common issue with a SMB pop top install, no support at corner cuts (which leads to metal cracks) no metal prep on there cuts (which can allow rust), SMB also loves to cut out the D pillar for there installs which they don't need to do... we do a lot of replacement tops here at CCV. We always have to re-support the missing D pilar, metal prep there un prepped cuts and rivet brackets in to torn metal corners. This is been covered on the forum before in several post. I'd get in there and rivet in some support and even hit it the cracks with a few tack welds if you can...

[1der]

Oh, and what about the 90 degree corner cuts asking for tear out .... So easy to do a radius cut corner in the roof sheet metal.

[WhitH]

Like it. Unreng where did you find the HDPE pieces to work with?